The Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors began its weeklong budget hearings on Monday, and supervisors are debating a new pilot program that could bring mental health services to the doorstep of people suffering from mental illnesses.

County health officials envision creating a mobile unit, called Crisis Prevention Program, staffed by mental health providers who will be proactive with helping families, educators, and law enforcement officers before an emergency happens.

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Currently, mental health services are provided in hospital emergency rooms or at the county's new behavioral health center. But the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency wants to offer more.

Chief of Psychiatry Vanessa de la Cruz said, "It's going to provide more services on top of what we already have and make the county mental health better respond to the needs of people in Santa Cruz."

Supervisors appear to be on board with the new program because of its potential of reaching out to more people.

"We approach things in a preventative mode, running upstream. We don't want to wait when people are sick and get into the hospital and create a bottleneck for the hospital," said Giang Nuguyen, Health Services Agency director.

Once a patient is diagnosed, the hope is to provide ongoing care.

"This is another important aspect of the program helping them connect with continuing services that may be with the county, that may be with a private provider in the community depending again on what that family or individuals needs are," said Erik Riera, Behavioral Health Service director.

The county is asking supervisors for $800,000 for the mobile unit; it's already received $125,000 from Dominican Hospital.

If approved, the unit it would begin serving the community in January 2015.